The Competition Bureau recently updated its Immunity Program, which prescribes the circumstances in which parties that violate the conspiracy and other criminal offence provisions of the Competition Act (Canada) may seek immunity from prosecution.

The scandals surrounding the backdating of stock options continue to mount in the United States. In testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance, the director of the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that as of September, this division was investigating over 100 companies for possible fraudulent reporting of stock option grants.

Canadian stock exchanges and securities regulators are likely to scrutinize option grants as a result of the latest governance scandal in the United States—backdating option grants to give executives a windfall.

Given the focus on corporate ethics, many public companies have instituted extensive blackout periods during which insiders are prohibited from trading in securities of the company. Blackout periods usually span quarter-ends, year-end and other periods during which there may be material information about the company that is undisclosed.